Spectra shows what it observed and what that evidence may mean. A recognizable name or possible device type is useful context—not proof of identity, ownership, recording, or intent.
Summary and All Signals
Summary surfaces named findings and supported possible types, with confidence and grouping explanations. Expand a result to see its evidence. All Signals retains individual source identities and magnetic area clues.
Repeated broadcasts from a retained Bluetooth identity stay together. Similar profiles may represent separate devices; rotating identities may represent the same physical device. Bluetooth and local-network identities are not merged merely because their names or manufacturers match.
Filters do not change your saved evidence
The Filters control narrows completed results by recorded measurement: Bluetooth, Local network, or Magnetic. Search names finds displayed or broadcast names. Export scope does not follow these display filters. In specialist checks, View observed activity opens other retained Bluetooth activity; that context is not a specialist match and is excluded from specialist export, analysis, and proximity choices.
Read the confidence label
- Possible and Probable describe supporting evidence, not numeric probabilities.
- System name may be cached by the collecting device’s Bluetooth framework rather than transmitted in that observation.
- Conflicting identity claims means Spectra has not selected a product.
- Company or service codes can identify a registered namespace without identifying the finished device.
Names and broadcasts can be changed or spoofed. Technical details preserve supporting fields and recognition sources.
Hardware icons, separate confidence
Device icons describe a possible hardware category, not activity. A reviewed MacBook match can use a laptop; an uncertain subtype uses its supported parent category. Known electronic identities without a suitable specific icon use a chip. Conflicting product claims never borrow one model’s icon. The confidence badge and source evidence remain separate: a more specific icon does not make a match stronger. A known product can still have no reviewed capability evidence. Names and icons do not verify a manufacturer, owner, recording, or playback.
A streaming-player hardware icon and a streaming-service icon have different meanings. A possible player is a hardware hypothesis; a streaming service is an advertised capability. Neither proves active playback or an additional television.
Unknown type, observed source
An otherwise unclassified radio finding uses a neutral source icon: radio waves for Bluetooth, a network for local-network observations, or a dotted circle for mixed or unavailable radio-source information. The icon does not identify hardware or imply Wi-Fi-wide scanning. Supported hardware or capability icons stay blue, including in similarity sets. The amber Similarity only caution still means the identities may be separate devices; blue does not make their relationship or identity certain.
Bluetooth strength is not distance
Less-negative dBm values mean a stronger received signal: −40 dBm is stronger than −80 dBm. Walls, people, antenna orientation, and transmit power affect readings. A stronger signal is not necessarily the closest device.
Choose Check Bluetooth Proximity, select a finding, and start a fresh, unsaved signal check. New Bluetooth captures saved on this iPhone can retain a private reference for recognizing their framework identity after reopening, including from a recheck. A silent or rotated identity may still be unavailable. Older or imported sessions and Watch captures may require confirming a possible match from a broadcast name, a separately labeled System name, or supported payload evidence. An explicit possible-match search is also available when a retained identity has changed and useful clues exist. Compare fresh readings in a similar phone orientation; saved readings never become live. This does not authenticate identity or measure metres or direction. A local-network-only finding has no measurable physical proximity in Spectra.
Put clues together
A supported name can be more useful when other advertised clues agree. Spectra can combine a transmitted Bluetooth name with company data or offered services from the same broadcast, or read model fields in a supported local-network service. These offline checks can suggest a Possible family or model while keeping the evidence and uncertainty visible.
Selected family names allow limited spacing changes, one-letter spelling differences, or a slightly shortened ending while an identifying word stays unchanged. This applies only to reviewed families, not arbitrary names or exact models. Names shortened by Spectra’s storage limit or stripped of control characters are withheld from name matching. Model numbers and edition qualifiers stay distinct. Conflicting product claims remain unresolved.
Bundled recognition does not use generative AI. Optional Analyze on Device explains a selected finding without changing its match. New recognition applies to eligible saved evidence only when you choose Recheck session; it creates a separate copy and preserves the original.
Observed pattern, separate identity confidence
Observed pattern describes the strongest relevant member’s evidence tier, not identity confidence. The separate match badge still applies. Signals with similar broadcasts may be separate devices; the amber Similarity only caution remains. Signal and service-signal counts describe retained records, not physical-device totals. A type already stated in reviewed text need not repeat; Possible and source qualifications remain.
Shared names, separate observations
Reviewed product and family names help identify both Bluetooth and local-network observations. A recognizable Apple TV name, for example, can suggest the same family on either source. Protocol-specific model fields and byte signatures still require their own evidence. Bluetooth-only LE/BLE name decorations are not removed from ordinary network names. Sharing catalog knowledge does not merge the observations into one physical device or increase confidence. A matching name alone cannot establish that relationship.
Registered services are not device names
Google-registered Bluetooth service means Google registered that service code—not that Google made the nearby device. Device unknown means Spectra has not identified the device. The label is not an account-registration message or evidence that the device is communicating with Google.
A network role without an exact model
Supported printing, scanning, file-sharing, media, automation, and imaging or audio services can explain what a network endpoint advertises even when its device is unknown. A service is not necessarily physical hardware: a computer can host a print queue, and an imaging service may also belong to audio hardware. Reviewed product names and protocol-specific model fields can support a Possible family or model. Conflicting or unsupported fields remain qualified; Spectra does not connect to endpoints or scan arbitrary ports to identify them.
Useful clues inside a broadcast
Reviewed names and some manufacturer-documented Bluetooth services can suggest a smart-glasses family. The Smart Glasses check also includes supported head-worn smart displays; not every result is ordinary eyewear. Shared pairing names or services may not distinguish models or generations. Generic audio, battery and input services do not identify glasses by themselves. Wired display glasses, connected devices and powered-off or quiet devices may not expose a recognizable Bluetooth advertisement. No match does not rule out glasses nearby.
Complete, reviewed advertisement formats can add useful context without identifying an exact product.
- Nearby Presence broadcast identifies a protocol format, not a phone, watch, or wearable.
- Possible phone · Nearby sharing broadcast describes a declared category in a compatible sharing format. It does not establish the maker, model, operating system, owner, or current activity.
- Possible HomeKit camera describes a public accessory-category claim. HomeKit’s Apple-registered company code does not mean Apple manufactured the accessory, and the claim does not prove recording.
These clues are unauthenticated and can be copied. Unknown, incomplete, and unsupported formats remain uninterpreted. Encrypted contents and account information stay opaque; rotating identifiers are not resolved into an owner or stable device identity. Technical details preserve service codes, parser outcomes, sources, and recognition revisions for further review.
A complete public model code can sometimes add a Possible model or family even without a broadcast name. Spectra uses an offline copy of public Matter vendor/product records and reviewed MiBeacon product codes, alongside manufacturer-backed names and families. A readable outer header may carry a model clue while its encrypted contents stay opaque; Spectra does not decrypt it. Published model records describe advertised claims—not authenticated hardware or certification of the nearby device. Conflicting clues remain qualified alternatives.
Other complete formats can identify a Weave setup advertisement, Bluetooth Mesh setup advertisement, Bluetooth Mesh proxy advertisement, or AltBeacon proximity broadcast. These labels describe a protocol feature, not a product, physical device type, owner, or activity. Weave codes use their own namespace, not the Matter product registry. Private identifiers and security-state details are not exposed as recognition clues; a deliberately shared complete Technical archive may still contain their raw bytes.
Monitor reports observations, not arrivals with certainty
Keep your iPhone stationary and Spectra visible. Monitor compares radio observations with a baseline. In the 1.1.0 release candidate, New identities recorded counts signal identities newly observed since that baseline, excluding those seen earlier in the same Monitor session. It is independent of the latest 40 retained activity events, not a count of physical devices or proof that one arrived.
Open View activity & help to review a fixed activity snapshot while measurement continues; close and reopen it for later activity. Not recently observed means an identity stopped being observed, not proof that a device left. Rotating or intermittent broadcasts can create changes without anyone arriving or leaving. Choose Stop Monitor for the full retained inventory and detailed results.
Observation handling is separate from device identity
Repeated pending readings can be combined without filling the result list. Coverage records available source-and-reason counts for combined readings, bounded omissions and genuine result-admission limits. Counts describe the units shown, not missed devices. Older totals without a recorded breakdown remain unattributed; they do not establish throughput pressure or a full result list.
Result records retired refers to records no longer in the retained list, not proof that physical devices left. Observation handling, source availability, identity confidence and session saving are independent. A notice does not automatically require a new check or indicate that collection stopped.
Read the Spectra Guide for grouping, coverage, and measurement details.
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